PROF. RUTH ARNON, Formerly Vice-President of the Weizmann Institute of Science (1988-1997), is a renowned immunologist. Prof. Arnon joined the Institute in 1960. Prior to her appointment as Vice-President, she served as Head of the Department of Chemical Immunology, and as Dean of the Faculty of Biology. From 1985 to 1994, she was the Director of the Institute's MacArthur Center for Molecular Biology of Tropical Diseases. Prof. Arnon has made significant contributions to the fields of vaccine development, cancer research and to the study of parasitic diseases. Along with her colleagues, she developed Copaxone® a drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and is presently marketed in the USA, Canada the EU, Australia and many other countries worldwide.

Prof. Arnon is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; she served as the Chairperson of its Sciences division from 1995-2001, and as the President of the Academy in 2010-2015. On the world scene, she is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). She has served as President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), and as Secretary-General of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) and as the President of the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia (AASA). She served as a member of the European Union Research Advisory Board (EURAB). Her awards include the Robert Koch Prize in Medical Sciences, Spain's Jiminez Diaz Memorial Prize, France's Legion of Honor, the Hadassah World Organization's Women of Distinction Award, The Comet Award, the Wolf Prize for Medicine, the Rothschild Prize for Biology, The AESKU Prize for Life Contribution to Autoimmunity and the Israel Prize. She has an Honorary Doctorate from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel-Aviv University, Open University, Haifa University and Leuphana University (Germany), as well as from several colleges in Israel. She is a Member of the American Philosophical Society (APS), The European Academy of Science & Art as well as of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS)